1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs printing with a carriage mounted with a print head of inkjet type reciprocating.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an inkjet printing apparatus of a serial-scan type, a carriage mounted with a print head reciprocates relative to a sheet. In this case, an air current is produced along the main scanning direction in the region between the print head and the sheet. In addition, this air current may affect ink ejection from the print head and cause ink impact position errors or the like, which may lower the quality of the printed image.
To address this issue, a proposed configuration provides a skirt member extending outward in the main scanning direction on the print head to regulate the air current flowing through the region between the print head and the sheet. In Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2006-142657, a skirt member is attached to the print head on the outward side in the main scanning direction, and the skirt member has a folded configuration that abuts a side wall at the ends of the movement range.
In the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2006-142657, during printing operation, the skirt member is always in a lowered state to regulate the air current. For this reason, the ink mist produced due to the ejection of ink during printing adheres to bottom face of the skirt member, and the skirt member gradually becomes soiled with ink. If this soiling ink adheres to the facing sheet for some reason, the quality of the printed image is lowered.